What is the theory of the disappearance of childhood?
(Postman)- believes that childhood is disappearing rapidly due to:
Children having the same rights as children
Disappearance of children’s traditional unsupervised games
Growing similarity between adult & children's clothing
Children committing adult crime (e.g James Bulger murder)
What does Postman believe has led to the disappearance of childhood?
-Postman beldived that childhood emerged due to the separation of adults & children. created from print media, with its fall so has childhood, the lines between childhood and adult hood are being blurred due to the rise of TV and the internet, children are able to access the ‘adult’ world.
-Postman belwives childhood is only possible if children are fully separated from and protected from the adult world which is gone due to the mass media & TV. Secrecy has also been wiped out due to TV.
What are the evaluations of the Disappearance of Childhood theory?
Postman has been criticised for his over-emphasis of TV in the disappearance in childhood, rather than other factors such a change in law
(Opie)- Childhood is not disappearing as children still have their own games, rhymes & songs highlighting separate child subcultures still existing, this highlights that children can and do sill have their independent cultures, separate from adults.
